Björnsk general election, 2019

General elections were held in Björnska on 19 September 2019 to elect members of the Underhuset. This follows the previous recommendation set out by the first and second constitutional referendums in 2018.

The election resulted in Progress emerging as the largest party, winning 264 seats, just short of a majority. They subsequently went into coalition with Grønpartiet, giving the government a small legislative majority. They also formed a confidence-and-supply agreement with minor parties En Noufrançais! and Plaid Celtía, allowing them stability of a larger working majority, holding a combined 361 of 650 seats.

The election results were decided under a proportional representation system of voting, where the parties are allocated a number of national seats according to the percentage of the vote received in each of the three constituencies. There is a 1% threshold that is required for parties to receive any representation in parliament, lower than the recent election, as well as the seats being increased from 350 to 650. These measures were seen as being important in making sure government better represents voters. In addition, compulsory voting was abolished, and there was a noticeable drop in turnout.

Campaign
Following their victory in the November 2017 election, the Social Democrats suffered from internal divisions between the more moderate soft left and hardline socialist factions. The latter were accused of being authoritarian and divisive, while the former were seen by their more left-wing counterparts as "Red Conservatives". This led to the party splitting into the centre-left Progress led by Chuka Umunna, which the Liberals and the Feminists merged into, and the Socialists & Democrats led by Len McCluskey.

After losing the previous election, a leadership election was held within the Conservatives which saw Priti Patel take over as leader. She vowed that the party would take a "Blue Agenda", including deregulation, lower taxes on businesses and the rich, modest spending increases in the military, and cuts in other areas. Seen as a move to right-wing politics, some MTUs left the party.

The media also focused on the rise of "multi-party politics" as a result of disillusionment with the main two. Christian Concern played upon homophobic and transphobic tropes to rise their vote share, alleging that the political establishment was trying to "kill gender" and attacked the creeping "normalisation and promotion" of homosexuality. The Nationalist Party was banned for inciting violence, with "Homeland" emerging as a successor party, and although leader Roger Helmer made a modest attempt to bring the party away from the extreme right, it was still seen as racist and xenophobic. Plaid Celtía and En Noufrançais! emerged also as parties advocating for large devolution or independence for Celtia and Noufrançais, respectively. The former was far more successful in this, as the Franc community is highly unionist, having only been incorporated into the country in 2018. Clann Féin fell out of the mainstream after Plaid emerged, which was seen as more electable.

Issues
The main issues that were believed to play a role in this election were;


 * Reducing inequality
 * Public services
 * Climate change
 * Possible coalitions
 * Producing a stable government
 * Foreign relations